Queensland law fast-tracked to allow naming of accused rapists

Queensland’s Attorney-General will fast-track laws allowing the media to name accused rapists before they stand trial after a high-profile man faced court this week.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Queensland’s Attorney-General will fast-track laws allowing the media to name accused rapists before they stand trial after a high-profile man faced court this week.

The man has been the subject of national attention but cannot be named because Queensland laws protect the identity of people charged with serious sexual offences until they are committed to trial.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman last year backed reform recommendations from former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo, who undertook a 16-month review into women’s experiences in the criminal justice system. Legislation was set to be put before state parliament by the end of this year, but The Weekend Australian understands the government plans to introduce a bill in the first half of the year.

Queensland and the Northern Territory are the only jurisdictions that still protect the identities of accused rapists until evidence against them is tested at a committal hearing, which can take months or even years.

Consultation on the proposed laws, including whether they will be retrospective, is due to wrap up next month.

Ms McMurdo said the reforms would bring Queensland into line with other states.

“It is not an erosion of the presumption of innocence in sexual assault cases, which will, of course, remain. The reform will simply mean that those charged with sexual offences will be treated the same way as those charged with other criminal offences,” she said.

“Experience has shown that the early public naming of those charged with offences can lead to witnesses coming forward and the supply of further evidence in the case. This can benefit either the defence or the prosecution.”

Author and sexual assault survivor Bri Lee said the fact the media cannot name the man charged with two counts of rape over an alleged attack in Toowoomba in October 2021 proved the need for consistent laws ­between states. “It’s absurd that whether or not we can talk about this depends on which state someone is charged and arraigned in,” she said. “It really highlights how absurd it is that we don’t have continuity between the states.”

Queensland’s peak legal bodies, the Bar Association and Law Society, both have reservations about naming accused during the early stages of the court process.

In a letter to Ms Fentiman, the Queensland Law Society reiterated its longstanding position that “the defendant’s identity should be protected until verdict for ­certain types of offences”.

Civil Liberties Council vice-president and lawyer Terry O’Gorman said existing protections were “based on the harsh ­reality that men faced with rape allegations still carry the terrible stigma of being labelled a rapist even if the prosecution case is thrown out at preliminary (committal) proceedings in the Magistrates Court”.

But Women’s Legal Service chief Nadia Bromley said arguments about protecting people’s reputations do not stand up.

“(Identity protections) don’t apply to violent offences; they don’t even apply to sexual offences involving children,” she said.

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